THIEVES are targeting doorsteps in West Hampstead, residents who have installed CCTV cameras have warned.

Adam Rahman said a package left outside his home in Fordwych Road was taken by a woman who climbed over a locked gate at the front of his house.

He said: “She looks directly at the camera but still jumped over in broad daylight. It was a coat, which cost £300, I bought for my brother. Unfortunately, someone else is wearing that now.”

Mr Rahman’s footage appears to show the woman carefully look around to see if anybody will notice her and later put the ASOS package under her top before leaving the scene. He reported the loss of his parcel to police on May 16 but said he was later contacted by officers, who said the case was closed due to lack of evidence.

“I have clear footage,” he said. “I knocked on my neighbour’s door to ask if they’d seen anything and one of my neighbours said they recognised her. There’s a group of people who beg for money and knock on doors asking for money.”

Mr Rahman moved to the road in 2016 with his wife and daughter. He said: “The area is nice but I didn’t think it would be like this. My daughter plays in the front garden. The last thing I want is someone doing that when my daughter is there. Or what if someone breaks in?”

Mr Rahman has since spent £400 on a new camera and alarm. “If someone goes over the gate I can catch them,” he added. He spoke about the case after doorstep CCTV footage from another house showing a man taking a plant pot was shared on social media.

The Finchley Road Buzz Twitter account report­ed that a £50 planter had gone missing from a residential walkway and that footage showed the man taking it. There were reports of an attempted parcel theft from a doorstep in Ach­illes Road on Monday.

Sergeant Mark Town­send, of West Hampstead neighbourhood team, said: “I would always recommend that deliveries are signed for by the intended recipient or delivered to a collection centre, never left on a doorstep or other insecure area. “Doorbell cameras and CCTV are not sufficient security. Thieves know to cover their faces or avoid ‘face-on’ camera shots and then the CCTV is useless